Seattle Board of Park Commissioners Meeting Minutes November 13, 2014 Web site: http://www.seattle.gov/parks/parkboard/ (Includes agendas and minutes from 2001-present) Also, view Seattle Channel tapes of meetings, June 12, 2008-most current, at http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/watchVideos.asp?program=Parks Board of Park Commissioners Present: Barbara Wright Brice Maryman Tom Tierney, Chair Yazmin Mehdi, Vice Chair Lydia Albert Excused: Antoinette Angulo Diana Kincaid Seattle Parks and Recreation Staff Christopher Williams, Acting Superintendent Rachel Acosta, Park Board Coordinator This meeting was held at Seattle Park Headquarters, 100 Dexter Avenue North. Commissioner Tierney called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Commissioner Maryman moves to approve the consent items, Commissioner Wright seconds and the consent items are approved. Commissioner Tierney reviews the Agenda and reminds the room that the oral requests portion of the meeting is only for items that have not been heard during a public hearing. To hear and view the full meeting, see http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=6517 Oral Communication from the Audience Toni Imfeld, steward of the Magnolia Manor Off-Leash Area (OLA) expresses her concern with the Magnolia Manor Opportunity Fund design. The proposed design decreases the footprint of the OLA. She shares with the Park Board that when the park was originally designed; Parks staff had told them they could not afford to have a dog park of the size requested so the community agreed to raise the money. The community raised the money for the current footprint. Parks agreed to give them the extra space. The opportunity fund is cutting that down. Toni feels their needs to be more public process. Superintendent’s Report Green Seattle Day – 700 volunteers at 120 park locations across the city and over 30,000 plants planted. There was a great turnout and a wonderful example of community engagement. 1 Cascade Bicycle Club – There will be a celebration to welcome Cascade Bicycle Club to their new offices at Magnuson Park in Building 11 on Saturday, November 15 from 10-12pm. Magnuson Park Radiological Clean-up –The Navy, Department of Ecology, and the Department of Health have been great partners in the Magnuson Park Radiological Clean-up. The Navy is responsible for environmental remediation – they are taking appropriate steps to clean up the park. However, to go the extra mile, Seattle Parks and Recreation will pay a consultant with a Geiger to perform a site survey and check for radiation. Parks staff are currently develop a scope of work. Because of construction and the wetlands development, soils have been removed and turned over. This radiological testing will cost $50-90,000. The work will start in January 2015. Commissioner Maryman asks whether Parks will perform testing prior to any future capital projects at Magnuson? Acting Superintendent Williams replies that it will depend on how this first testing goes. Cheasty PAT – Both sides have come together for discussion and the temperature is coming down. Council approved a perimeter loop trail; but the PAT express concerns about humans and bikes sharing the same trail. The next meeting will be on November 20 – the focus of the conversation will be design; 30-40 people show up at these meetings. The December 11 meeting may be delayed until after the environmental study is done in January. There will be at least 2 meetings after that followed by returning to the City Council with a plan. Planning Commission – Parks would like the Board of Park Commissioners to work more closely with the Planning Commission on the Park portion of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Parks staff will brief the Park Board at the December meeting of the Park Board. Acting Superintendent distributes a letter inviting the Planning Commission to attend the January 22 Park Board meeting for a briefing and discussion about the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Seattle Management Association – These awards recognize the stellar work that city employees do. This year Seattle Parks and Recreation had 4 employees receive awards and 3 received honorable mentions. Chukundi Salisbury won for his work developing the Green Seattle Partnership that connects youth with ecological restoration work. Jodi Sinclair – recognized for environmental stewardship – she is the toxics coordinator and has been working closely with the Navy, Department of Health and Department of Ecology at Magnuson; Dan Johnson was recognized in his role as Director of Parks as Public Servant of the year – Dan is a beacon of encouragement and hope for his employees. Susan Golub received the award for Leadership; she is highly respected by her peers and she produces a lot of work in a short period. Honorable mentions went to: Victoria Schoenberg for her work managing downtown parks, Patti Petesch – in her role with the victim support team for Seattle Police Department, and Kathleen O’Connor – who works in the Planning and Development division. They make a difference in the lives of people who work here every day. Commissioner Tierney congratulates the staff for all their hard work. Denny Awards – This award recognizes and formalizes gratitude to Seattle Parks and Recreation volunteers. The Denny Awards have been happening since 2003. The winners this year are: • Rich Appleton for his work at Nora Woods; 2 • Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center Advisory Council for their work, they completed the largest neighborhood matching project to construct the beautiful second floor of the Rowing and Sailing Center; • Homeless Place of Remembrance – They have a lot of courage there and they have a graceful level of activism; raising awareness of plight of homelessness; • Clarke Gray – Vendor/operator from Green Lake Rowing and Sailing Center- operates the rowing and sailing center but goes over and beyond his job; • Samuel Bradley, a teen, who contributes his own time to the Special Populations program and has been doing that for a number of years; • Superintendent Ken Bounds for his leadership on the Prop 1 campaign; • Special recognition to Jen Sonnichsen Parker and Klindt Parker • Park Legacy Committee Transition to a new Superintendent – Parks staff are figuring out how to bring the new Superintendent on board – partnership luncheon, park tours; there is a lot of internal planning happening. Acting Superintendent Williams spoke with the Seattle Parks Foundation about their involvement. The new Superintendent is not expected to start until January. Acting Superintendent Williams requests the Park Board think about how they would like the new Superintendent to connect with the Park Board while keeping it transparent and open to the public. Play equipment at children’s garden – There are rules regarding how we manage risk and new equipment in a park – 1) the play equipment needs to be approved by a certified landscape architect 2) physical changes to a park is done in consultation with a park design professional. SPR does not want to create risks/liability issues. A landscape architect determined the swing did not meet standards. The message that did not get conveyed to the community was the myriad of alternative designs SPR provided. SPR loves the playground and the population so they will make it right. Housing Grant received at Sand Point – there is a plan to reuse Building 25 for affordable/market rate housing; a $9million grant from a state agency to renovate it. Tom congratulates staff for all the hard work they do. Discussion and Vote on Magnolia Manor Off-Leash Area Presented by Leah Tivoli and Rick Nishi, Seattle Parks and Recreation Rick Nishi, reviewed the design options for the opportunity fund at Magnolia Manor Park. Magnolia Manor first received funding through the Parks and Greenspaces Levy in 2012; this funding created the off-leash area and the p-patch. The 2nd round through the Parks and Greenspaces levy has $8million for 2012-2013 that will go towards 12 – 14 projects. These projects went through the levy oversight process so it was very transparent in terms of criteria. Susan Casey and Friends of Magnolia Manor Park have been very involved during the process. Four elements were identified – ADA and upgrades to the p-patch; pathway connecting the OLA to the P-Patch; and the flat and level landscape in the north side. Parks staff went through a public involvement process; performed site analysis and information gathering with public; and shared the conceptual drawings with the public. The 3rd meeting was held on November 5 at which time Parks 3 staff offered refined conceptual drawings. Mr. Nishi notes that over 50% of input received at that meeting was about the OLA and the impact to the neighborhood. The OLA was presented to the Park Board on October 23. The new design calls for improvements to the p-patch; greater views and furniture; and moving the fences to allow for more room in the park. The design reduces the OLA enough to help the overall circulation to the park; allows for better entrance to the park and connects walkways to other parts of the park. The new design also creates more of a flat space on the north side for open space use. They will be adding landscaping to the North side to create additional buffering for the residences. When staff sat down to talk about the proposed design changes; one sentiment expressed repeatedly by the neighbors was that the park felt it had only one use; taking parts of fence downs allows more utilization of the park and the entrance is not as overwhelmed by the dog park. Commissioner Wright feels the sidewalk on the north side should be closer to the fence to allow for more usable space. She feels the OLA overwhelms the space. Commissioner Wright and Commissioner Maryman really like the proposed design improvements for the park.